dc333

Have you kept looking? Widespread ORDHND JL biz 60K available in Feb but starting on the 5th of YoY have minimal flexibility. Position to ord should be pretty cheap.

The return is plentiful HNDORD then as well, or all the way HNDSAT 2/10 or 2/12 among others. Just not the 11. SAT should be next to perfect for AUS- based.

bwaltens

Forutnately, thanks to a good samaritan on the thread, I was able to snag availablity through OHare earlier this week! Even had success adding the Austin to Chicago leg over the phone (though had to hang up and try again once). Thanks everyone, and looking forward to our first time in lie flat!

sapguy

New to AA premium travel search as my ExecPlat status was all domestic + 1 TATL flight - my international travel is 98% United and Star Alliance due to my 2MM status with them and therefore my wife is also a 1K even though she flies no more than 25,000 miles a year!

But I want to fly JAL Biz and F using award miles for my wife, and either points or cash for me since I have heard so much good things about JAL. Probably routes are LAX-HND-LAX, PHL-Tokyo (HND or NRT)-PHL, LAX-KIX-LAX, with beyond destinations as BKK, SGN, MNL, and KUL.

QUESTION: by calendar search, you mean calendar search for premium awards on AA.com?

Finally, is there a point transfer scheme to a JAL account which could work like I could do with their competitor ANA (in which AMEX points can be transferred to ANA or SQ for booking)?

Thanks so much in advance.

moondog

Basically, yes, but you should limit your initial searches to routes that JL flies nonstop, and do one search at a time. Then you can hone in on 60k and 80k dates and optimize both intra-US and Intra-Asia components.

CMTinPHL

First, from PHL you are going to have to connect through other gateways which JAL serves - BOS, JFK, ORD, SAN, SFO, LAX, SEA. You may be able to find PHL-TYO awards (I booked PHL-SFO-HND-SGN for instance) but often you’ll need to book from one of the other gateways to TYO.

Second, you can search by a month at a time on AA.com. Do the search for a specific day, and then there is a link to the right of the day(s) where you can view a month at a time - it shows you the dates awards are available and the lowest amount of mileage needed for each day.

Finally, none of the major transferable points currencies transfer to JAL. Marriott points do, however it’s at a 3:1 rate.

sapguy

Thanks for your input. Will give it a try

sapguy

I am based out of both PHL and LAX so can start my trip to Tokyo from either cities.

Thank you for your very useful tip of using the link to the right of the day(s) where I can view a month at a time! I can now see Business/First award for 60K one-way LAX-HND in Biz Class, although many are 1-stop to ORD as the non-stop LAX-HND is priced at ridiculous amount of points!

Interestingly enough, searches for PHL-HND seems to yield far better hits for 60K or 80K one-way in Biz Class, but it's through LAX and on AA metal 788 and not on JAL metal!

I will continue to search and would of course welcome your suggestions and advice. In the meantime, I have compiled this list of JAL flights available through AA.com from LAX, ORD, DFW, and SFO, and includes NRT and KIX as destinations from LAX so that I can refine my search for 60K-80K Biz class award seats - please let me know if I am missing anything:

1. LAX-HND: AA 8453 (JAL) L: 12:30PM, A: 5:30PM non-stop 789
2. LAX-NRT: AA 8407 (JAL) L: 11:50AM, A: 4:40PM non-stop 788
3. LAX-KIX: AA 8414 (JAL) L: 13:15PM, A: 6:50PM non-stop 789
4. ORD-HND: AA 8404 (JAL) L: 10 :20AM, A: 2:55PM non-stop 789
5. DFW-HND: AA 8481 (JAL) L: 10:45AM, A: 3:25PM non-stop 773
6. SFO-HND: AA 8400 (JAL) L: 12 :55PM, A: 5:20PM non-stop 789
7. SFO-NRT: AA 8410 (JAL) L: 12:10PM, A: 4:20PM non-stop 788

Thanks again

moondog

I've been seeing results like this too (i.e. AA metal offered and/or connections via ORD/DFW to places like SFO and LAX that have nonstop flights of their own). There seems to be a bit of married segment logic going on here. Still, I prefer to keep my initial searches as simple as possible (e.g. JL gateway airports only); if they want to show me connecting itineraries, that's fine but I'm doing my part to limit the number of variables I introduce into the equation.

ETA: On your way back to the US, the married segment thing can work out in your favor (e.g. you might see the TYO-LAX-DFW for 60k when searching for TYO-DFW, even when TYO-LAX is priced sky high standalone). Also, I use TYO for Tokyo because it covers both HND and NRT (e.g. you probably won't see NRT-BOS in any results if you use HND as your origin).

brodielayne

JFK,SEA,SAN are other options.

sapguy

Not for me! Hate JFK, and SEA, and mildly OK with SAN.

moondog

BOS and YVR too.

moondog

I don't care for JFK or SEA either, but I'll put my JFK beef aside if I'm able to score F on JL's new A350 (preferably from Tokyo because the catering is really solid there).

https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/inter/se...A350-1000.html

lrdpenn

Everyone is certainly entitled to their preferences but I don’t understand the anti-JFK sentiment now that JL has moved to T8. T1 is indeed awful but glad JL is out of there. I could see the difficulty with connecting given the lack of AA JFK flights.

JackMackey

Maybe it's the getting to / from the airport. Or the zillions of steps needed once there.

yitianjian

There's no JFK-PHL flights, so getting from PHL to JFK can be pretty painful - it's a two hour drive, or via train its minimum three transfers.